The President of the Republic of the Philippines, Pres. Rody Duterte is considered by some countries as a rockstar which includes China, Russia and our ASEAN neighbors. Joining the list of countries interested with Pres. Duterte is no other than the Islamic Republic of Iran who extended an invitation for the chief executive.

Pres. Rody Duterte's invitation to visit Iran was announced to the media by the Department of Finance (DOF) on Sunday.

According to the Finance Department, the Iranian Deputy Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour made the invitation during his recent meeting with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

The Iranian Deputy Minister offered Tehran's assistance in supplying the Philippines ' energy requirements and expressed the hope that banking relations with Manila could be establish soon, as revealed by the DOF.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani & Pres. Rody Duterte

Deputy Minister Rahimpour was quoted as saying "We are focused on expanding bilateral relations with the Philippines. At the same time, we are ready to increase the level of engagement in the Philippines. At the same time, we are ready to increase the level of engagement in the Philippines, including in the area of banking relations," Rahimpour said.

The DOF chief who is also part of the country's Monetary Board noted that he is ready to assist Iranian officials in establishing a branch of an Iranian bank here in the country. They are also looking for the possibility of setting up a branch of the Land Bank of the Philippines in Iran to address the banking and remittance needs of OFWs.

Aside from the upcoming visit of Pres. Rody Duterte to Iran, the DOF also revealed that in an earlier meeting with Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Tanhaei, Iran said that they plan to increase its imports of bananas from the Philippines, and wanted to explore areas of cooperation in the energy sector and investing in infrastructure projects in the Philippines.